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Queen Isabel's War
Shortly after the 5th eclispe, another eclipse in 969 YSD occured and, not forecasted on any calendar, grips the Holy Griffin Empire in a panic. The Demons emerge in force and march towards Haven's capital, Talonguard. This war will be known as Queen Isabel's War and is the topic of Heroes V's campaign. This event would eventually lead to the prophecy of the Dark Messiah. Heroes: Might and Magic V : The Queen An unexpected demon invasion interrupts the wedding of King Nicolai of the Griffin Empire and Lady Isabel, and soon the forces of the Griffin Empire are at war with the demons of Sheogh. With Nicolai at the front, Isabel is sent, along with her the abbess Beatrice, to the Summer Palace, where they are guarded by Godric, the King's uncle. After much persuasion, Isabel persuades Godric to let her take part in the war rather than wait. Godric is to go to the Silver Cities to seek help from Archmage Cyrus, while Beatrice will go to Irollan to get help from Elven King Alaron. Eventually, Isabel raises an army, but when Beatrice returns to lead her to the Elven reinforcements, Beatrice reveals that she is Biara; a succubus, and assistant to a demon lord, Agrael. Although Isabel escapes Agrael with Godric's help, they are too late to prevent Agrael from killing Nicolai, who, with his dying breath, proclaims Isabel to be Queen in his stead. : The Cultist Although Nicolai is dead, Agrael has failed in his mission of capturing Isabel, and attempts to flee the wrath of Kha-Beleth, the Demon Sovereign. Intending to overthrow Kha-Beleth, he decides to capture the Heart of the Griffin, which Nicolai had used in their battle. When he reaches the mausoleum, he is met by a mysterious Elven apparition, Tieru, who reveals that the Demon Sovereign is attempting to summon an apocalyptic Demon Messiah. He instructs Agrael to meet him in the Dragonmist Islands, which can only be reached through the Elven land of Irollan. After a long march and battles with the Elves, Agrael meets Tieru, who tells him about the War of the Eclipse, where Kha-Beleth was banished, as well as the Demon Messiah's links to Isabel. Agrael admits that he questioned Kha-Beleth's plans because he has fallen for Isabel, and Tieru tells him that he must be purified of demonic corruption with the Rite of True Nature. Agrael agrees, and during the ritual, Biara attempts to steal the Heart, only to be sent back to Sheogh. : The Necromancer Meanwhile, in the Griffin Empire, Isabel's position as Queen is challenged by Archbishop Randall and other local lords, who begin a civil war. A mysterious necromancer, Markal, assists Isabel in her fight against the rebels. Markal reveals himself to be the former advisor to Nicolai's mother, Queen Fiona, and offers to help Isabel revive her dead husband with the Vampire's Garment. Although Isabel trusts him and helps him to gather its pieces, Godric is less gullible, warning Isabel that Markal had been banished years ago for his necromancy and treachery. Isabel ignores him, and as she and Markal gather the artifacts, she destroys former alliances with the Elves and the Wizards, whose leader, Cyrus, is killed by Markal for one of the artifacts. When Godric can take it no more, he keeps the last artifact and barricades himself in the Wizard city of Hikm. Markal retaliates by kidnapping his daughter as blackmail, and later defeats Godric, who is imprisoned. Isabel and Markal then begin their march to the Hall of Heroes. : The Warlock In the Dark Elven nation of Ygg-Chall, Clan Shadowbrand is holding a tournament to choose their new leader. An unknown warlock, Raelag, participates and wins, becoming the Clanlord, and now seeks to unite the clans into a single state. With the help of another warlock, Shadya, he assimilates the other clans, except the Soulscar Clan, who is discovered to be in alliance with the demons. Raelag then discovers that the Demon Sovereign has sent a demon lord, Veyer, to capture Queen Isabel. Arriving at the outskirts of Sheogh, Raelag routs Veyer and asks Isabel to follow him to Tieru, where she can be purged of the Sovereign's influence. Markal, however, convinces her otherwise and they continue on to the Hall of Heroes. : The Ranger When Nicolai is resurrected, Isabel realises to her horror that the spell has damned his soul, leaving him as a vampire. Stunned by this revelation, she breaks down and Markal seizes the chance to declare himself ruler of the Griffin Empire. When the Elven king, Alaron, takes in Griffin refugees, Markal's forces begin to raid Irollan, and the diplomat Findan is sent to stop the raids. He is later tasked to find the Emerald Dragons to turn the tide on the Undead, but returns to find Syris Thalla, the capital, besieged. Alaron dies in the siege, but tells Findan to seek Tieru. After defending the capital, Findan travels to the Dragonmist Islands, but is too late to stop Biara from killing Tieru, although the latter's spirit tells Findan about the Kha-Beleth's plan; the Demon Sovereign has placed a mark on Isabel so that she will bear the Demon Messiah. He also instructs Findan to get a scroll back from Biara, which, if used by a powerful mage, will be able to stop Kha-Beleth. The only such mage would be Zehir, the son of Cyrus. After pursuing Biara and getting the scroll back, Findan returns to Irollan, where the Elves are now on the verge of victory, but now face a terrible foe in Nicolai, who is now a Vampire Lord. With the help of phoenixes, Findan 'brings the dawn', and puts Nicolai to rest. He then sets off to find Zehir. : The Mage With the Silver Cities shattered by Markal's invasion, the new Archmage Zehir seeks to liberate the Wizard nation from the grip of the necromancers and avenge his father, Cyrus. Swiftly, he rallies his troops and retakes the Silver Cities, before forging an alliance with Findan and Godric (whom they release). The trio manage to defeat Markal, and burn his body to ensure he cannot return as a lich. Determined to rid Isabel of demonic influence, they ally themselves with Raelag and Shadya and successfully get to Isabel, preparing to do the Rite of True Nature. However, Shadya then reveals herself to be Biara in disguise, and seizes Isabel before fleeing to Sheogh, where the Demon Sovereign waits. The heroes travel there as well, and in an epic battle, they defeat the Demon Sovereign, who escapes with Biara. With Isabel free, they then return to their respective countries. As Godric and Isabel survey the damage in their homeland, Isabel's eyes light red. It appears the demons are not quite defeated yet... Hammers of Fate The story continues some time after the story in Heroes of Might and Magic V. Queen Isabel has returned to her empire, but the people speak of a changed queen, not the same one that went to Sheogh. Freyda, the daughter of Godric, is sent off to stop "rebels" as Queen Isabel calls them. Freyda is tasked to retrieve the young prince "Andrei", and is sent on a chase to the home of the Dwarves, Tor-Hrall. There, Laszlo, Freyda's ally attacks the Dwarves while Freyda is at council with them. However, because of Wulfstan's kind heart, Freyda is let free. From this point on, Freyda no longer fights for her queen. She learns that her father has been kidnapped and rallies the help of Duncan, who assists her in getting a vessel to safely transport her to the empire. The attack on Tor-Hrall leave the Dwarves slightly shaken. Wulfstan and his brother Rolf have opposing views, and thus Rolf allies himself with the Queen, while Wulfstan fights his own battles. As a result of this civil strife, Wulfstan ends up facing many Dwarves, however, plenty of those Dwarves tend to rally to his aid after realizing their own mistakes. As a result, Wulfstan's influence amongst the Dwarves grows. Eventually Wulfstan teams up with his friend Duncan and together they set a distraction to ensure the safety of Freyda's voyage. The city of Tor-Hrall is now recaptured in the name of Wulfstan. Soon after that, Laszlo is killed. Ylaya is a Keeper of the Law and is told by Malsara, a Daughter of Malassa, to find out what rituals are being practiced by the Soulscar clan that do not heed Malsara herself. When Ylaya is discovered, she flees and seeks one who has been gone for many a month - Raelag. She finds him with Isabel and discovers that this Isabel is the real Isabel and the Queen is actually the succubus Biara, who has been spared on several occasions already. After making an alliance with Black Dragons, Ylaya brings down a great portion of the Soluscar clan, and the Dark Elf clans can thus be temporarily at peace. While that peace lasts, Ylaya and Raelag have one less enemy. Before the final battle, Raelag splits off from the group to achieve something that is to help in the war. Ylaya, Freyda, Duncan, Wulfstan and Isabel all meet up and combine forces to capture Tor-Hrall once and for all. The King Tolghar is killed during the battle and the Empire's forces are seen retreating. After the climactic battle, it is revealed that Archbishop Alaric will still serve Biara. Raelag is seen talking with Tieru about something in the east and it is assumed that this is a direct reference to the Orcs, who will be presented in Tribes of the East. Tribes of the East The story begins with the character Quroq, an Orc, who takes over a renegade Haven city and begins to introduce worry upon the false Queen Isabel. The queen sends forth her most trusted servant, the corrupted Archbishop Alaric to ward off the Orc invasion. The actual events that happen between this and the next time we see the Orcs are unknown though Quroq is killed by Alaric at some point. Meanwhile, the Necromancer Arantir is driven by his master Asha (who is the lady of the dead) to fight against the demonic corruption in the Haven cities. He meets up with a novice Necromancer named Ornella, introduced to him by Giovanni the vampire. With Ornella at his side, Arantir sets out towards the city of Flammschrein, the holy city which has been desecrated by the demon Orlando. After killing Orlando, Arantir visits the graves of Flammshrein where he frees a fragment of the true Queen Isabel's soul. Upon doing so, the succubus impostor who had been taking the place of the queen is revealed and she is forced to take over the city. Biara (the Succubus) uses the Heart of the Griffin, an artifact that sends demons to their hell, as a portal to the capital of Talonguard after having corrupted the Heart of the Griffin by means of a dark ritual. Arantir also meets with the Orcs and arranges an alliance via the Orc shaman Kujin. At the same time (as it is revealed later), the young Orc Gotai takes lead of the Orcs and hopes to crush the demons. In order to do so, however, he must brave many trials, the first of which is to gather the support of various tribes. To do so, Gotai sends Kujin, who manages to assemble an army of Orcs. Gotai then chooses to respect the soul of Kunyak, the greatest of the Orcs who lead them to freedom, by going to his burial place in a wizard city. After doing so, he avenges the death of Quroq by killing Alaric. It should be noted that Alaric was no longer fighting for the false queen when he attacked Gotai, for his final battle took place after Arantir performed the rite by which Biara was revealed. It is shown that Alaric had actually gone mad and hoped to kill all the Orcs believing that it was all just an illusion and he still was to follow the wishes of his master. Though Gotai offers for Alaric to die honorably, Alaric shows no sign of sanity in his final moments. After the death of Alaric, Gotai and Kujin arrange a meeting with Zehir, who allies with them for their common causes. Zehir begins by traveling to the duthcies where he must help Duncan and Freyda fight off the demon influence. He does not participate in the fight directly, but he performs a rite that separates demons from humans. After this event, the followers of the false queen realize their mistake and instead join Zehir. After Freyda and Duncan manage to fight off the demons, they agree to help Zehir in the final battle. Zehir then travels to the mines where Wulfstan rules. The Dwarves who are in constant feud, wish not to aid Zehir. Wulfstan, however, tells Zehir that if he manages to find Arkath, the fire god of the Dwarves, then maybe the Dwarves can ally and aid Zehir. After finding the portal to Arkath, Zehir is intercepted by Wulfstan's brother Rolf, who has become deranged and bloodlustful since his last appearance in the previous game. Rolf attacks Zehir who overcomes him. After this victory, Zehir, Wulfstan and Hangvul, the other faction of Dwarves, confront Arkath. Arkath announces that Wulfstan is to be king and that Hangvul must compensate for betraying him. So it is that the Dwarves ally and aid Zehir in the next battle. Zehir then travels to Talonguard, the capitol city of the Haven faction, now overrun by demons. While he makes his way past the guards that defend the way to the city, Zehir's allies destroy the surrounding Inferno towns and blockade Biara, who has excaped on multiple occasions already. These allies also include Ylaya, who makes a deal with Zehir early in his travels in which she joins him under the circumstance that he destroy the troublesome Soulscar clan, which he does. After all other Inferno towns are destroyed, Zehir besieges Talonguard and after winning, allows for the true Queen Isabel to kill her. Though Biara proclaims she has done her job, the others know she is bluffing, and that the demons are just as badly wounded as the Haven faction. The conclusion also suggests that the dwarves, orcs, wizards, and dark elves, as well as presumably elves and possibly necromancers (for whom Arantir is spokesman), are also allies. In this situation, the demons are thoroughly outnumbered by seven factions (Haven is included) to 1, which actually makes 7 of the 8 factions of the game "good" factions. Category:Wars of Ashan